Gov. Chris Sununu endorsed Nikki Haley Tuesday night in Manchester. (Courtesy)
This story and headline were updated on Dec. 12 at 6:20 p.m.
Gov. Chris Sununu made his endorsement for the 2024 Republican presidential primary official as he enthusiastically threw his support behind Nikki Haley on Tuesday night.
The much-anticipated endorsement from one of the country’s most popular governors came during Haley’s stump speech at McIntyre Ski Area in Manchester, where Sununu joined her to declare his support six weeks ahead of the Jan. 23 first-in-the-nation primary.
“You bet your ass I am,” Sununu yelled as he announced he was endorsing Haley at the event that merited an overflow crowd. “We’re all in for Nikki Haley.”
Sununu’s endorsement was expected on Tuesday once his office announced he’d be joining the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador during her Manchester event.
Haley has seen a recent climb in Granite State polling, but former President Donald Trump maintains a commanding lead. According to polling released Nov. 16 by the Washington Post and Monmouth University, Haley is on the rise in the first-in-the-nation primary state, claiming second place in the poll with 18 percent of registered Republican or undeclared voters saying they would vote for her. Forty-six percent of voters in the poll said they would vote for Trump.
Trump’s lead appeared to widen this week in Iowa, according to a new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll that showed 51 percent of likely Republican caucus-goers pick Trump as their first choice. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was tied with Haley at 16 percent in October, moved ahead by three percentage points into second place.
When Sununu announced in a July Washington Post op-ed that he would not be seeking the Republican nomination for president, he warned that if Trump is the nominee, “Republicans will lose again. … This is indisputable, and I am not willing to let it happen without a fight.”
As a result, his endorsement has been long-awaited, and he spent the past several months vetting candidates as they visited New Hampshire.
Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire, said Sununu’s endorsement on Tuesday night would add to the “blizzard” of information that voters will receive over the next six weeks until the Jan. 23 primary.
“This endorsement, it’s a piece of information to voters, but it’s wrong to exaggerate the importance of any one snowflake in the blizzard,” Scala said.
That being said, Scala expects Sununu’s endorsement will hold weight for the voting bloc of moderate, anti-Trump Republicans who might be split between Haley and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
“If you could put that bloc behind a single candidate, that’s probably a third of the vote,” Scala said. “I think in terms of the primary, (Sununu) would be especially influential among just that bloc of voters.”
That wouldn’t be enough for a Haley win, Scala said, but it would ensure her second place finish in the New Hampshire primary and put her “in striking distance of Trump.”
In the meantime, Scala is interested to watch what Sununu will do over the next six weeks as an “effective advocate and surrogate” for Haley. He doesn’t expect Sununu’s campaigning will stop with the Tuesday night endorsement.
“He seems very intent on trying to stop Trump.”
This story is courtesy of NH Bulletin under creative commons license. No changes have been made to the article.
Current Issue - May 2024